The gentry were at one time attended by link-men or boys in their night excursions. These links were stiff, tarred ropes about the thickness of a man's arm. They gave a flaring light with any quantity of bituminous-odoured smoke. In front of one or two of the old houses of Liverpool I have seen a remnant of the link days, in an extinguisher attached to the lamp iron. I think there is (or was) one in Mount Pleasant, near the house with the variegated pebble pavement in front (laid down, by the way, by a blind man). The link-extinguisher was a sort of narrow iron funnel of about six inches in diameter at the widest end. It was usually attached to a lamp-iron, and was used by thrusting the link up it, when the light was to be put out. People in those days seldom went out at night without a lantern, for what with the ruggedness of the pavements and the vile state of the roads it was by no means safe to life or limb to go without some mode of illuminating the way. Gas was introduced in 1816 and 1817. Only one side of Castle-street was lighted at first. While we now acknowledge the invaluable introduction of this fluid, when we consider the vast area over which it casts its pleasant and cheerful beams, and the price we also pay for such an unmistakable comfort and blessing, we shall not fail to peruse the first advertisement of the Gas Company with intense interest. With this belief I insert a copy of it. The rate of charge and the mode of ascertaining the quantity of light consumed cannot but prove curious to us and rather puzzling perhaps to understand. LIVERPOOL GAS-LIGHT COMPANY. SCALE OF CHARGES per Annum for Burners of various sizes, calculated for lighting to the hours below mentioned:-- Till Till Till Till Till 8 9 10 11 12 o'Clock. o'Clock. o'Clock. o'Clock. o'Clock. One Argand. l. s. d. l. s. d. l. s. d. l. s. d. l. s. d. No. 1, 3 0 0 3 18 0 4 16 0 5 12 0 6 8 0 No. 2, 2 14 0 3 5 0 4 0 0 4 14 0 5 8 0 No. 3, 2 2 0 2 14 0 3 7 0 3 18 0 4 10 0 One Batwing. 2 14 0 3 5 0 4 0 0 4 14 0 5 8 0 Persons who wish to take the Light, may make application at the Company's Office, Hatton-garden, where their names will be entered numerically in a Book, and Branch-pipes laid in rotation, the Company only contracting to fix the pipes just within the house, and to supply the Light when the interior is fitted up, and made air-tight and perfect, which must be done by each individual, and approved by the Company's Engineer. No extra charge will be made, if the Light be extinguished in a quarter of an hour after the time contracted for, and on Saturday evenings the Company will allow burning till twelve o'clock.